Back in May I attended the finals of the Moët UK Sommelier of the Year 2012 competition that I was covering for Sommelier Journal. From a short list of 12,…
Detoxing and abstinence, a considered view
Every now and again I hear on twitter that a wine trade colleague is having a break from the booze. Frequently, this is badged as ‘detoxing’, and is accompanied by…
Consider a tear
Consider a tear. [I’m referring here to the tear that comes from our eyes, not the tear that occurs in a fabric, or the sort that runs up the inside…
Cricket at Hampton Wick
So, the hottest day of the year so far. A muggy 30 degrees, under a blue sky with just a hint of haze. And time for some wine trade cricket,…
High-end Chianti a hit with teenagers?
So it’s 1 am in the morning, and I’m stone cold sober. We’ve just had a teenage party for younger son’s friends. At one stage there were around 100 kids…
Objects, types and tasting wine
Our perception of reality is actually our model of reality, based on information from our senses. This is because the processing power needed to take in sensory information in real…
So should I post more negative reviews?
I taste a lot of wines and only a few of these end up on this blog. This filtering process means that you will tend only to see positive reviews…
Decanter switches to 100 point scale and will publish individual taster’s scores
In a progressive move, UK-based wine magazine Decanter has announced that it adopting the 100 point scale for its tasting section, and that it is reducing the number of tasters…
Cricket, with some wine
Another day of wine trade cricket today, on a day that actually felt like summer. We were playing Majestc at Hampton Wick, a lovely pitch in the grounds of Bushy…